We only report good news here. We figure all the big media have the bad news covered, and then some. In fact, we scanned the headlines in all the sections of a major online news outlet and found ONLY bad news. Seriously.

Our society is so good at catching people in the act of doing something bad. What if we could become just as good at catching people in the act of doing something good?

May 02, 2013

September 08, 2009

The hardest stories for us to hear are often the ones where children are the victims. From the horrifying tales of abduction to tragic death in an accident or disaster, or the plight of children born into poverty and starvation, we can't help but feel our hearts rip apart, especially when imagining the same fate for our own kids.

The worst, however, are the stories of abandonment, of children being cast aside because they have lost their parents to death, disruption, or indifference. Too many children around the world are victims of this sort. It's painful enough to have no food and no home, and worse yet to know that your life may always be like that, and that your life will very likely be short. But to be not loved has to be the worst agony anyone could suffer through, especially our children.

Thankfully, for one group of children, love has found them in the form of a generous husband and wife from Singapore. Budi and Peggy Soehardi have established an orphanage for 47 abandoned children in West Timor. The couple have three children of their own, but all of the children receive the same love and care, they say.

Through donations and the efforts of other volunteers, the Soehardis built a facility in West Timor where orphaned children, many who are refugees of the turmoil in East Timor, can receive food, shelter, an education, and a home. Most of the children are quite young, many arrived as babies who the Soehardis themselves named. There are older children, too, some that would be ready to enter college.

September 04, 2009

During the morning ride to school, a 14-year-old girl allegedly produced a handgun and allegedly threatened to shoot others on the bus. According to reports, the girl did this in retaliation for being bullied by other children who may or may not have been on the bus.

The girl ordered the driver to stop the bus and then allegedly began making threats to everyone on board. Kaleb Eulls, an 18-year-old high school senior, opened the emergency exit and instructed younger children to begin leaving the bus. Then, when the girl with the gun was momentarily distracted, Eulls said, he took that opportunity to subdue and disarm her.

In on-camera interviews after the incident, Eulls seemed bashful at being deemed a hero, and says he hopes never to be in that situation again.

The gun-wielding girl was arrested and charged as a juvenile. That she chose such a way to express her sadness and frustration is disheartening, and hopefully this will serve as another wake-up call that we, as a society, need to address bullying. Yes, it has always been around, and always will be, but there's no denying that the consequences have escalated dramatically in recent years.

The bullies need to be reigned in, and the victims need help learning how to better deal with their situation.

August 27, 2009

Kudos all around to partners in a Louisiana architectural firm who came through in an eleventh-hour plea to rescue a doomed project to help underprivileged kids.
Brian Bordanick, the 23-year-old athletic director of Carver High School in New Orleans, was working with another architectural firm on a design proposal that would compete for a NFL grant to build a new athletic facility at the school.
During the weekend prior to the Monday proposal deadline, Bordanick learned that the original architectural team involved in the project was bowing out. With less than 24 hours left to go, and with the aid of a friend, Bordanick made a desperate plea for help to Steve Dumez, a partner in the design firm of Eskew+Dumez+Ripple.
On the next day, Dumez and his partners had assembled a team that was able to complete the proposal within eight hours, ahead of the deadline.
The proposal won the NFL grant, along with a pledge of $100,000 from Nike and private donations equalling close to $1.5 million. The new facility should be completed in time for the 2010 football season.

June 02, 2008

May 20, 2008

It is difficult to label news "good" when it is pulled from a larger story that is almost nothing but bad news, yet even minor miracles are worth mentioning.

The tragedies of the Myanmar cyclone and the earthquake in China have reached the point of destroying entire populations. Pick a couple of suburbs outside a major U.S. city and imagine the residents of those towns being wiped out. That, of course, immediately conjures up the horrifying images of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the terrifyingly massive death toll in the wake of the tsunami which struck the Indian Ocean region in 2004.

In light of all this, it is nonetheless uplifting to hear the continuing (if dwindling) stories of survivors being pulled from the rubble of the earthquake in China. Especially this story of a woman rescued after being trapped for over 8 days!

May 15, 2008

I meant to post about this the other day and it completely slipped my mind. Better late than never, I hope.

The website BlogCatalog.com has launched a campaign called "Bloggers Unite", challenging bloggers everywhere to spread the word on global human rights issues by adding a "badge" to their blogs (look to the right of this page to see the badge).

Generally, I'm kind of skeptical of "web drives" like these since--all too often--they are veiled schemes aimed at driving up traffic for ad sales. By NO means am I saying that's the case here, but whether or not ulterior motives exist, the cause is still just and, I feel, deserves mention as a piece of Good News.

April 14, 2008

The media depicts teens as (with every passing generation, strangely enough) a pox on society, cyborgs with their ubiquitous gadgets, texting constantly, disrespectful, slovenly, and generally obnoxious. It is hard, therefore, to believe that most kids are quite the oppposite and, in fact, quite capable of great things. Even the ones whose fashion-sense may not measure up to the exacting standards set by us perfect adults. One young man defies the media's butchering of the American youth profile.

April 10, 2008

Three teenage boys who grew up on the streets made a pact to stay united, to get an education, and to give back to the urban community in which they grew up. Today, the three men, in their 30's, are taking their mission national, encouraging professionals everywhere to support and mentor young people in all urban areas.